Nationals 8, Mariners 3: Wilson Ramos homered twice and four of his teammates also went deep as visiting Washington powered past Seattle in the opener of a three-game series.

Jayson Werth hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the third inning and Anthony Rendon, Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper added solo shots for the Nationals, who remain six games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. The Mariners fell one game behind the Detroit Tigers for the American League’s second wild card.

Jordan Zimmermann (10-5) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings to win his fourth consecutive decision. Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (13-5) served up four homers for the first time in his career and gave up five runs and 10 hits in seven innings while losing his second straight decision.

Rendon, who went 4-for-4, started Washington’s assault with a first-inning homer before Seattle moved ahead in the bottom of the inning on run-scoring singles by Kendrys Morales and Kyle Seager. Werth hit his blast over the left-center field fence in the third to give the Nationals a 3-2 lead.

Desmond and Ramos both went deep against Hernandez in the fourth to make it 5-2. Harper and Ramos hit back-to-back homers off reliever Joe Beimel in the eighth and Adam LaRoche added a sacrifice fly in the ninth as the Nationals halted a three-game losing streak.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Nationals hit six homers in a game for the first time since reaching that same total against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 5, 2012. … Bench coach Trent Jewett ran the Mariners with manager Lloyd McClendon away for at least the first two games of the series due to his daughter’s wedding. … Desmond’s homer gave him a career-best 81 RBIs.